The Orphan and the Dragon
by Silas Goodwill
Summary: Often, the strong are felled by those who do not mean to.


**Ok, first story, so take it easy on the reviews.**

**Thanks for taking the time to read this.**

**-Silas**

Isaac the Echidna was eight when his village's strongest warriors went to slay the dragon.

They gathered there packs with food and drink. Then, tightening their shields and shouldering their swords, they left for the mountain that was the dragon's home.

Isaac remembered his father hugging his mother.

How she had trembled when he said goodbye.

He remembered his father kneeling down to him and saying "If I don't come back I need you to care for your mother".

Then, kissing him on the forehead and shouldering the massive sword that was the family heirloom, he was gone.

His mother had sobbed for days on end, refusing to be comforted, simply crying "My husband is dead, my husband is dead".

The days turned to weeks and the weeks to months, slowly the village began to prepare for fall. Harvest was coming, and without the village's strongest workers, the rest of the town's folk needed to try that much harder.

Summer turned to fall and the village stockpiled the food in there storeroom, readying themselves for winter.

And then the Dragon came.

Like Lucifer himself, the beast came out of the sky with a bone chilling shriek. Shattering the meager hope the town had held that there loved ones were alive. A rusty blue, with specks of rusty flecked throuout it's armor, the Dragon raked the fields' with it's rusty claws and fiery breath, it's three eyes roving too and fro, daring any to challenge it.

After scaring the fields so that they would not produce, the dragon burned the town storeroom to the ground and scattered the villagers in all directions, picking them off like a hunter.

Isaac's mother never really healed that after that day.

She had simply stared as the dragon destroyed everything five generations had worked so hard to build.

The dragon never physically touched her, but mentally it carried off her sanity that day. For months to come, she would rave about demons and ghosts.

He would be awakened by her screaming at night, and whenever he came to a town, the mobens there would refuse them, convinced that his mother was a witch.

By the end of the year, she was dead.

Isaac became a drifter, going where there was work for him to do, food for him to eat, and a bed for him to sleep.

Then he heard of a dragon that was terrorizing a village near where his town had been…

The rain poured down in huge cascades that chilled Isaac to the bone. He clutched his cloak around himself.

He was eighteen now, a far cry from the small boy whose father had told him to take care of his mother. His muscles were well developed due to constant use and his fur was a polished brown.

On his back was a large shield, the type used by the king's guard, on his right he wore a short sword in a leather scabbard and on his left a small bag of coins. He would have cut a dashing figure, if it were not for his eyes.

Eyes that spoke of things many would only see in there deepest nightmares.

The near by village had been kind enough (they thought he was a madman) to given him food, water, and where he could find the cave.

It was now pitch black and raining hard, thunder echoed across the sky while streaks of lighting shot back and fourth, splitting the sky into spider webs of unearthly beauty.

Isaac was convinced he was on his way to his death

…he had been dishonorably discharged from the prince's guard after he had told the prince that he was a, "Stuck up little snob who seriously needed his hide tanned"

He was surprised that he had not be executed on the spot (he suspected that the king had agreed with him) or at least banished, rather than simply discharged with his sword and shield.

Of course, it probably had to do with the fact that almost every person he met and told his story to promptly had pity on him

…in fact he distinctly remembered that was how he had entered the palace in the first place…begging.

But that was past him now.

Ever since he had lost his mother, he had never really been, at least what he considered, happy.

The memories he had of the town he was born in were very few and he had never really wanted to think of them because of the pain that came.

He came to a tall cliff and, looking up, could see a small cave at the top marking the dragon's cave.

It was a sheer wall, almost completely straight up.

There was nothing for it except to climb.

________________________________________________________________________

Isaac had assumed the villagers were joking when they said that the mountain had a tendency to bite.

But now, with sharp stones cutting through his gloves, he had to admit that the description was painfully accurate.

Pulling himself up to a ledge, Isaac glanced down.

You have probably stood below a cliff at some point in time, looked up, and dismissed it as very low…and then promptly climbed it and sworn that the cliff had grown higher… imagine that…multiplied by a trillion…

Naturally you would try to tighten your grip as you hands suddenly began to sweat profusely.

Isaac didn't, in fact he merely dismissed it,…before his parents died he might have been scared. He might have been afraid of dying.

But now death was his greatest wish, as it had been since his mother died.

Death, the thing he was going to meet.

That dragon was death.

Before him was the dragons cave

The rain had stopped an hour ago, leaving the ground cold and wet. Isaac drew his sword and shield, he held simple acceptance that this would be his death.

And then he saw the dragon.

It hadn't changed since the day it attacked his village. It was covered in scared blue and red armor with a single eye in the center of it's forehead, long rusty silver claws extended from it's hands and it seemed to fly without wings

At the sight of it, Isaac felt himself fill with rage. Uncontrollable rage.

He lost control of his body, and charged the dragon with a loud roar.

The dragon stirred sleepily, obviously peeved that someone had woken it up in the middle of the night.

It whirled around and struck him across the chest with its tail, leaving a deep gash.

It then proceeded to pick him up and slam him into the wall at the back of the cave.

Isaac fought to remain awake but the darkness around him was overpowering.

The first thing Isaac was aware of when he regained his vision was what he had landed upon.

Bones

The bones of hundreds of hedgehog's foxes, wolves, echidnas, and what looked like an elephant.

The dragon was already waking up, stretching armored wings and legs, and eyeing him with the look one usually reserves for when choosing what to eat for breakfast.

Isaac's sword had been broken against the wall when the dragon had thrown him, and his shield had been shattered when the dragon struck his chest.

He was completely defenseless, not to mention wounded, with no way out.

Well, he had never really hoped for anything more. He had lived in grief for years and it was about to end.

As the dragon began to approach him, Isaac closed his eyes and spread out his arms hoping this would not hurt.

And felt the hilt of a weapon.

Turning in surprise, he was confronted with his father's long forgotten sword, one of the many that the dragon had collected over the years.

And remembered a memory he had long ago forgotten.

"My son" his father had said to him one evening "there are many lessons in life, far more than I could ever hope to teach you. But if you were to learn only on thing from me, and one thing only, I would have it be this…never ever give up.

If you were to become a complete ruffian without a sense of right of wrong

I guarantee, you will be remembered for your ability to always fight even when the odds are against you".

What had he done with his life? Wandering form town to town, wherever his needs carried him, caring for nothing but himself and his grief. How was that an honor to his parents?

Tightening his grip on the sword, he bound forward swinging it in an upward arc across the dragons face. The beast let out a scream that shook the cave to its very foundations and echoed across the valley.

Holding the blood stained sword in front of him Isaac said "my name is Isaac, son of Elanus and Janthus."

You have held this valley in fear for too long" his voice rose to a primal roar "I have come to take your life as you took my parent's"

The dragon made no inclination to show that it understood, it simple shook its head, splattering black blood from it's wound against the stone, and charged with a bellow.

The beast was not used to fighting in close quarters.

Usually, it fought on open plain where it could use its wings to its advantage.

Here however, the cave was too close for it to spread its wings, much less fly, causing it to depend upon its long neck and claws to strike blows in the confined space.

Isaac leapt to the side as the dragons struck where he had just been standing.

Turning quickly, Isaac brought his sword down on the creature's neck, trying to behead it.

This might have worked if it were not for the armored scales that were the beast's skin. He did however cut a deep gash.

The dragon roared in pain.

Loosing its temper, it reared up on its hind legs and charged forward, striking with both its claws and mouth.

Holding the sword like a fencer, Isaac jabbed at the beast's claws as they swiped past.

Suddenly, the dragon shot forward and grabbed him around the waist and tossed him out of the cave.

Thinking quickly, Isaac slammed his sword into the ground, preventing himself form going off the edge of the cliff. But while he was doing this the beast charged, opening its wings.

He barely had time to duck as it flew over him.

Rising to his feet, Isaac saw the dragon drop a good fifty feet before spreading its wings and soaring up above him. He cursed inwardly, now that it was airborne, there was no way he could hunt it down.

A loud roar brought his attention back to the dragon: it had circled and was coming toward him, its mouth wide open. It looked rather comical and Isaac had to fight to prevent himself from laughing.

Then he saw the fire.

Leaping to the right Isaac barely had time to move before a raging inferno inveloped the cave and ledge he had been standing on.

Again the dragon circled and came in close.

Isaac looked around him. There was no cover whatsoever. He was completely open. They only way out was…down.

Gathering every ounce of strength left in him, Isaac jumped off the cliff windmilling his arms to gain momentum and grabbed the beast's tail.

The dragon had not been expecting this, and was caught completely off guard. However it soon recovered and began to spin and twist in a desperate effort to throw him off.

The sky and ground blended together in a blue and purple blur.

Isaac felt his brain bouncing around in his skull and his muscles conspiring to rebel. But still he climbed the dragon's twisting tail. Suddenly his sight cleared to see the joints that connected the wing to the body. Using the little strength he had left. Isaac swung at it with all his might.

The dragon felt a sharp jolt of pain course through its body…and then it began to fall.

Wind buffeted Isaac's body, begging him to let go

Crawling a little further however placed Isaac at the dragon's chest. Rising his sword above his head, Isaac said

"I love you mom and dad.", and plunged it into the dragon's heart.

The scream in the cave was nothing compared the shriek that issued from the dragons mouth at this blow. The very mountains seemed to tremble at its pain and agony and the rock's themselves appeared ready to weep at it's injustice.

Then it was silent.

Isaac closed his eyes as the ground rushed up to meet them…he had done what his father and mother would have wanted…

_______________________________________________________________________

Pain.

Mind numbing pain.

Like a spider web that was woven around him so tightly that he could not move.

He was alive.

Isaac was amazed that he had survived the fall; ironically the dragon had cushioned him, preventing further damage.

If further was possible.

His right leg was broken, along with his left arm, and his left leg felt like it had popped out of its socked, his right arm had miraculously survived unhurt.

As he lay in the dirt with pain racing through his body. He suddenly became aware of a shining light.

The dragon was pulsation gently and seemed to be shrinking; changing shape and solidifying. Eventually, the light resolved itself into seven jewels.

Isaac looked on in amazement as the jewels floated over to him and spun around his wounded body.

Immediately the pain began to dissipate, and Isaac could actually _feel_ himself being healed.

His bones fused back together, his leg popped back into place and the furrow in his chest was replaced by a gleaming white mark.

And then he felt the warmth, like being with his mother and father again, as if they were right with him. Sitting next to him with there arms wrapped around him.

The sun was coming up, its golden rays lighting up the sky as though the gates of heaven themselves were open.

For the first time since his father had left, Isaac felt the sunrise.

**Well……?**


End file.
